COMPOSERS: Bartok
LABELS: Naxos
WORKS: Rhapsody No. 1; Rhapsody No. 2; Piano Quintet; Andante
PERFORMER: György Pauk (violin), Jeno Jandó (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: 8.550886 DDD
This disc contains curios – Bartók’s early Strauss-influenced Andante and Piano Quintet dating from 1902 and 1904. György Pauk’s playing of the 1928 Rhapsodies is marvellously idiomatic – sweet, focused and energetic. Too bad, therefore, that Pauk and the Kodály Quartet – admittedly with patches of rough intonation and uncertain ensemble – are undermined by a balance that projects the pianist, Jenó´ Jandó (and his mumblings), so prominently into the foreground. Annette Morreau
Bartok: Rhapsody No. 1; Rhapsody No. 2; Piano Quintet; Andante
This disc contains curios – Bartók’s early Strauss-influenced Andante and Piano Quintet dating from 1902 and 1904. György Pauk’s playing of the 1928 Rhapsodies is marvellously idiomatic – sweet, focused and energetic. Too bad, therefore, that Pauk and the Kodály Quartet – admittedly with patches of rough intonation and uncertain ensemble – are undermined by a balance that projects the pianist, Jenó´ Jandó (and his mumblings), so prominently into the foreground. Annette Morreau
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:11 pm